Dale Earnhardt Jr. will get to leave his personal touch on the NASCAR Hall of Fame in 2020.
While he’s not being inducted - yet - into it, the Hall of Fame announced Thursday that the former NASCAR driver and current NBC Sports analyst will guest curate the museum’s “Glory Road” exhibit.
“Glory Road” is located in the Hall of Fame’s main atrium and displays historic race cars in race formation on a curved “track” representing the different levels of banking found where NASCAR’s national series competes, along with some of NASCAR’s historic tracks.
The exhibit, “Dale Jr.: Glory Road Champions,” will debut on Jan. 11 and will feature 18 premier series championship cars personally selected by Earnhardt. It will be on display for approximately three years.
“We are excited to present some of NASCAR’s most iconic premier series championship cars from the eyes of one of our biggest fans and ambassadors, Dale Earnhardt, Jr.,” said Winston Kelley, Executive Director of the NASCAR Hall of Fame, in a press release. “I have always been inspired by Dale Jr.’s sincere interest in, and appreciation for, the history of our great sport.
“Having Dale guest curate one of our most recognizable exhibits following his days as a full-time driver has always been one of my personal goals. With so much from which to choose, selecting a theme, and narrowing that theme to 18 cars from a list of 75 – 100 available cars, is a very tough task. I know I can speak for my fellow NASCAR fans in thanking Dale for once again giving back to the sport he so dearly loves.”
The complete list of the new cars installed on “Glory Road” will be announced on the NASCAR Hall of Fame’s social media channels prior to the exhibit opening, starting on Jan. 6 and leading up to the exhibit’s opening.
“Having the chance to help choose the cars for the NASCAR Hall of Fame’s newest installment of Glory Road was an opportunity that I couldn’t pass up,” Earnhardt said in the press release. “Everyone knows how much I enjoy learning about the history of our sport and sharing that history with people, and with this, I’m able to play a small role in what we share with fans who visit the NASCAR Hall of Fame.
“I knew when Winston and his team first met with me that if I was able to pick the cars for the exhibit, I wanted it to focus on the champions of our sport. I felt like that was a no-brainer,” he continued. “I picked cars for this exhibit for many different reasons. But I definitely wanted to represent a broad history of the sport as a whole, so we could also see the progression of the cars. It’s really cool when they’re all there together and you can see all that’s changed in the technology from where we started to where we are today.”
I really enjoyed the process of selecting cars for this. Even one in my collection made the cut. It’s a celebration of Cup Champions and the automobiles they piloted to greatness. https://t.co/fN9g3UkcOk
— Dale Earnhardt Jr. (@DaleJr) December 19, 2019